Object-based JSON array decoding in C# [duplicate]

Question

Having to decode an unusually-formatted JSON array, where instead of being an array, the contents are complete objects:

{
    "133v1": {
        "128": "2024-01-24",
        "155": "2024-04-01",
        "1066": "2024-05-16",
        "1198": "2024-09-25"
    },
    "1092v8": {
        "589": "2024-12-23"
    }
}

Sadly, I cannot change the incoming JSON, as it's coming from one of our mainframes. The names of the objects (eg: 1092v8 and 133v1) can change each time, and so can the values contained. The number of objects can also vary - sometimes we'll only be getting one. Sometimes, upwards to 3k.

Because of this I can't create a POCO to decode the JSON into. I've tried decoding the root object into a JObject (JObject sensorObj = JObject.Parse(sensors);) which will give me some data - and I can looop through each child. But then trying to get each key/value in the child is proving oddly difficult; I'm missing something that (I feel?) should be more obvious.

Currently I'm using the following loop -

foreach (var item in versionOb.Children())
{
    //Loop through each version.
    foreach (var sensor in item.Children().Single().Children())
    {
        //Get the date - 
        string date = ((dynamic)sensor.Values().Single()).Value;
        //Get the sensor readings
        string sendorReading = ((dynamic)sensor).Name;
    }
}

For some reason I need to use the .Name and .Value properties, after casting them to a Dynamic, becuase a JToken doesn't seem to have these properties available.

Is there a better way to get these values?

Edit: As mentioned, it's less along the lines of a string, string dictionary, because of the parent level.

Looks like a Dictionary<string,Dictionary<string,string>> to me — Raildex
– Raildex, Commented Dec 28, 2024 at 23:38
@Progman Not a duplicate, not a string string because of the parent layer. This DOES help with the base values (the date and sensorReading, but the parent foreach should be easier to handle as well. :D — Coyttl
– Coyttl, Commented Dec 29, 2024 at 1:03

Coyttl · Accepted Answer · 2024-12-29 02:28:18Z

0

Welp, thanks to How can I deserialize JSON to a simple Dictionary<string,string> in ASP.NET? - this did give me a thought to try - Since each object is (literally) a key with a collection of key-value pairs, the following line successfully turns the JSON into a useable object -

var temp = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, Dictionary<string, string>>>(sensorsJson);

This likely wouldn't work if the schema of the JSON was altered in any way, but in the above case, it certainly worked.

answered Dec 29, 2024 at 2:28

Coyttl

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